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The growth witnessed in the rate of iOS app downloads is immense, says analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray. This morning, Munster published his latest research findings, which largely corroborate Apple's announcement last week that 15 billion iOS apps have now been downloaded.

Munster believes Apple's various app stores now collectively represent an increasingly bigger and more important part of Apple's business model. "We believe this trend points to the increasing importance of an app store with a broad selection of tested apps to drive device sales," Munster says.

Based on Munster's research, which is independent of information and data released by Apple, the average iOS device owner "will download 83 apps in 2011 vs. 51 in 2010," a 61% increase year over year. "Smartphone users are showing an increasing appetite to use apps to add features to their phones," Munster reveals, "and iOS has the leading app ecosystem."

Incredibly, the rate of app downloads continues to explode even as prices escalate in lockstep with the expansion of the App Store's popularity. The ASP (average selling price) per app is rebounding, Munster finds. "ASPs are up 14% y/y in 20111 vs. an 18% decline in 2010."

"After the initial race to the bottom in App Store pricing," indicates Munster in his report, "we are seeing users pay up to add features and games to their iOS devices."